Solidarity Action in New Orleans (LA, USA) to Support Jailed Irish Farmers
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
press release
Wednesday July 06, 2005 23:55
by Anne Rolfes - Louisiana Bucket Brigade
anne at labucketbrigade dot org
(504) 914 – 3164
Shell Oil rocked by Global Protests
Solidarity Action in New Orleans to support jailed Irish farmers. Blockades, arrrests stop Shell activities worldwide. Louisiana action also in support of Sakhalin Islands protest (Russia) against Shell disrupting salmon breeding grounds. Louisiana residents are also aware of Shell's impact on the Mississipi and the threat to fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.
WHAT: Five Irish farmers, known as the Rossport Five, have been sent to
jail for obstructing construction of a Shell pipeline on their land. As
Ireland is wracked by the showdown between the farmers and the
corporation, community members in the Sakhalin Islands – the Russian Far East -
have forced Shell to suspend work on a controversial oil and gas
pipeline that the communities fear would destroy salmon breeding grounds.
Louisiana residents will hold a solidarity action for these communities
in New Orleans in front of Shell’s headquarters. A contingent of
environmental, public health and human rights advocates has just returned
from the Shell shareholder meetings in Amsterdam and London, where Shell’s
neighbors from all over the world – including Africa, Brazil, the
Philippines, Louisiana, Texas, and Ireland – converged to pressure Shell to
stop its global pollution.
WHY: Royal Dutch Shell’s operations in Louisiana have caused harm to
communities along the Mississippi River, specifically in Norco, Louisiana
where the company finally bought out residents’ contaminated
properties. Although residents were moved away from the pollution, the impact on
their health remains. Now Shell’s liquefied natural gas operations are
threatening Louisiana fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.
The assault on Louisiana’s environment is not isolated but is repeated
in communities around the world. Louisiana citizens are tomorrow
standing up to Shell in solidarity with the Rossport Five and the Sakhalin
Island protesters.
WHERE: One Shell Square, 701 Poydras Street at Baronne, downtown New
Orleans
WHEN: 12 PM (high noon), Thursday, July 7th
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Comments (11 of 11)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Maybe you could also write letters to the boys in jail and tell them about your protest. They'd be delighted to get reports of International support, especially from the swamps of Louisiana. I'd say they've a few ideas about who they'd like to deliver into the jaws of your local crocs.
Write, individually if you can, to Micheal O'Seighin, Vincent McGrath, Philip Mc Grath, Brendan Philbin and Willie Corduff.
Address: Clover Hill Prison, Dublin 22, Ireland.
Thanks for your brilliant support. Hands across the ocean
Fair play to you all in the Deep South. This is really appreciated.
More info:
www.shelltosea.com
www.freetherossportfive.com
www.indymedia.ie/mayo
There is a threat to salmon in Rossport and the trout lakes nearby. Shell are proposing to run a pipe from the refinery out to sea to flush waste out thru.
Rather than send it all the way out to sea to the rig and pump the toxic waste back into the sea bed and then plug it (which is the smart option) what Shell have decided to do is to pump it out as far as Erris head which is a whale and dolphin breeding ground.
The toxic waste would include stuff like mercury, benzine, chromium(youve seen the film Erin Brockovich) etc, it has a tendancy to accumulate in the fatty tissues of fish(and humans for that matter) and besides the birth defects, diseases, cancers etc it ends up killing
I support the 5 however they are in jail for contempt of court not for their actions against Shell. All they have to do is say sorry for refusing to acknowledge the court and they will be released.
Yes, Al is correct in saying that the Rossport 5 are in jail for contempt of court, and the 5 have no problem whatsoever in apologising to the court. However, if they now purge their contempt, while SEPIL still refuses to apply to lift their unjunction, they will be prevented by the court order, which still stands, from defending themselves and their families by peacefully expressing their objection to SEPIL activities or plans. They will be deprived of this most basic right if they purge at this point. They are deprived of the ability to do so in jail. It's strange how neither the Department for Comms, Marine and Natural Resources nor the Gardaí suggested that SEPIL executives should be jailed for violating the consents which they had received from the Dept, and for carrying out illegal work by welding a 3km pipeline together without any consent to do so, or for having an illegal septic tank in their compound in Rossport and for their subsequent denial that it was a septic tank until the County Council carried out tests on the tank in question and verified locals' suspicions, or for seeking the imprisonment of 5 people under the false premise that they had permission to lay the pipe?
My father is one of the five men jailed. Thank you so much for your support. You wouldn't believe the lift it gives the men to hear of the support worldwide. It also means an awful lot to us, the families.
Thank you also, Mayo person, for clearing up the question for Al. It is amazing how little we know about how the intricate web of the Irish legal system works until we are stuck in the middle of a legal row with someone who has a bottomless pit of cash and no morality.
The support shown in Galway yesterday was great. If R.T.E. are saying over 1.000 people attended, you can be sure it was closer to 2,500, Thank you all.
Shell Oil, the omnipotent, tell the Dublin government and the Mayo government what Shell want. Heads are bowed, for to refuse is to appear backward and culchie. Christ, we Irish don't want to be seen as mere Irish, mere dotheads. We obviously need what Shell can supply. We can be happy living off corporate theft.
It is clearly theft, authorized by those of the new Irish ruling class who see themselves as striving for omniscience and quasi-omnipotence.
Sweet God, have we not seen all this carry-on before? Hmmm, possibly the legacy from our "neighbor" island?
The resistance so far to the Shell swine is amazing. Our new Ireland is beginning to spread its wings. We are no longer dirt-poor and powerless. Shell do not own Ireland and the Irish people. It is totally OK to voice criticism to this form of economic imperialism. And let's criticize until the Rossport Five are back home.
quote "Shell do not own Ireland and the Irish people."
nah , just the gang of traitors calling themselves a government.
when a people are attacked by evil i would say they are justified in resisting that evil.by force .
if we cant move forward as a nation without destroying ireland and poisoning our children then it aint worth the effort.
corporate colonialism again.when the feck will we learn!
quote "Shell do not own Ireland and the Irish people."
nah , just the gang of traitors calling themselves a government.
when a people are attacked by evil i would say they are justified in resisting that evil.by force .
if we cant move forward as a nation without destroying ireland and poisoning our children then it aint worth the effort.
corporate colonialism again.when the feck will we learn!